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Barbara Boxer spoof from filmmaker -- no, <i>cineaste</i> -- David Zucker

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Los Angeles Times

Filmmaker David Zucker, of “Airplane” and “Naked Gun” fame, is a former liberal who says he is embarrassed about his $5,000 in contributions to Sen. Barbara Boxer over the years. A Republican since 2004, he’s created a two-minute spoof aimed at her perceived weak spots: arrogance and humorlessness.

The video, first posted Friday on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website, lampoons Boxer’s cranky moment during a Senate hearing last year when she told Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh of the Army Corps of Engineers to call her “senator” not “ma’am,” because “I worked so hard for that title.”

Boxer has downplayed the incident, insisting that she and Walsh are friends. And Walsh, through a spokeswoman, said last May that he had not taken offense.

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Zucker’s video, in which all roles are played by volunteer actors, reenacts the moment and takes it to politically incorrect extremes.

“Senator, I can explain,” says Gen. Ronald Henderson. “U.S. military policy is to refer to all senior ranking personnel as ‘Sir’ or ‘Ma’am,’ including members of Congress.”

Boxer: “Thank you, Gen. Henderson.”

Henderson: “Major.”

Boxer: “I thought you were a general.”

Henderson: “Major…uh, major general. It’s just a thing. I worked so hard for that title. West Point, graduated top of my class….”

The committee chairman accidentally smashes Boxer’s hand with his gavel and calls out, “Is there a doctor in the house?”

“I’m a surgeon,” says a man. “That’s three more years of residency. I worked so hard to get that.”

And so it goes: A Boy Scout wants to be called “Eagle Scout,” a police officer wants to be addressed as “captain...

On Sunday, Zucker said the piece cost $6,000 and was financed by the advocacy group Right Change. He hopes to pare it to 30 seconds and get it on TV.

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He said Boxer’s moment reminded him of the “stupidly serious” 1957 movie “Zero Hour,” which “Airplane” so successfully sent up. “You expect her to say ‘I’m just kidding, my job as a senator doesn’t hold a candle to what you guys go through,’ said Zucker. “The one thing that’s unforgivable is having no sense of humor. C’mon Babs.”

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